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Press the Buttons has a post about an independently created Mario game which combines elements of Super Mario World and Super Mario Sunshine to create a great 2D gaming experience. From the post: "Equipped with the FLUDD water pack, Mario must collect pieces of a warp pipe, assemble them, and then exterminate the Piranha Plant living inside. FLUDD functions as both a jetpack and a weapon, and when the water supply runs dry Mario must get a refill at the local water hole."

Coming soon... the great new game where Nintendo lawyers jump up and down on the heads of indie developers, while using their "Cease and Desist" orders to make foes flee in terror. Find all the magical writs and win the Super Lawsuit Challenge to collect all the shiny gold coins!

Seriously, people, grow up. Nintendo is not the nice, fluffy "puppies for all" company that they're usually portrayed as on slashdot for some reason. Anybody remember a little title called "Great Giana Sisters" for the C64? To be honest, in this case, Nintendo pretty much have a duty to protect their intellectual property.

Completely and utterly 100% absolutely wrong. I don't actually like Nintendo much, but in this situation, they have so many legs to stand on that they're a verifiable centipede.

You do not have to be profiting from IP infringement like this in order to be smacked for doing it. Nintendo could, if needed, take these guys to court (although a C&D order would probably be tried first), with near absolute certainty of victory.

Nintendo could claim that this title has harmed the value of their franchise. Now, I know the next bit is going to sound like a fanboy rant, but believe me, I've not liked a Nintendo system since the SNES - this is just how the legal system will see the case. When a customer buys a Mario title, their purchase is informed by the values tied to the franchises involved, both "Nintendo" and "Mario". Both of these imply a set of production values associated with the product. If somebody else puts out a game under the "Mario" brand, then Nintendo could reasonably argue that this has an adverse affect on the value of their franchise. If you want to see the power of a franchise, look at the Final Fantasy series. Virtually no links between the games in terms of characters, settings or even combat systems, but the games sell on the reputation for production values that go with the franchise.

Moreover, even if Nintendo don't really care about this, the legal situation with trademarks pretty much compels them to take action. If you don't defend a trademark against these challenges, you lose it.

Apologies for any terminological errors in the above, IANAL. However, I'm confident that the core argument is true.